I just watched it, and it wasn't nearly as good and anything else Willem Defoe has done, it just seemed rushed without real character development... No?
We are DEVO (the soundtrack is good though)
Posts: 4228 | From: Home of the big landfill | Registered: Jul 2003 | Site Updates: 8
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Oh Devolution, you fail me I truly love this movie! I will definitely conceed that there isn't much in the way of character development, but I think that is exactly why I loved it! It was just a (I won't say gritty (adjective overuse)...I will say layered with a sense of panic all the way through. The reason it's great for me (beyond the soundtrack which you mentioned) is the pacing actually makes me anxious.
It certainly doesn't all unfold the way you would expect (or hope) and some of the images (certainly the bridge, the car chase and the bathroom scene) stay with you much longer than some other films like this. I love how it is just a very quick slice of life among this small group of lawmen and the ones they run down without much else to say about it.
I think you may find you pull it out and watch it again next year...and then again the year after. It gets kinda infectious...anyways glad you finally saw it! Posts: 253 | From: ILLINOIS | Registered: May 2009 | Site Updates: 0
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kevdugp73
He's eating after dark again....
Member # 5978
posted
I bought this a while back, but have yet to watch it...suddenly I want to watch it even more...
Posts: 2148 | From: Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Aug 2007 | Site Updates: 0
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Counterfeiter: Why are you chasing me? Vukovich: I don't know, why you running? Counterfeiter: 'Cause you're chasing me.
I love this movie. One of Friedkin's finest. It is kind of messy and not as richly developed as it might be if made today. But the action is awesome and as noted truly one of the best soundtracks to come out of the 80s, especially when you know some of the backstory on it and how it was incorporated into the film.
Posts: 19 | From: Grand Rapids, MI | Registered: Jul 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
posted
It's interesting to read several post on how people who have never viewed a certain film whether it be comedy, action, or dramatic and view it for the first time in their adulthood.
Dislikes are guaranteed due to the reasons unforseen by readers or the common misunderstanding to the viewer as to why such a film made an impact on a group that frequents this forum.
What a person should as him/herself is, 'Will I get the same experiences watching this 'movie' now as did my peers here on Fast-Rewind.com in their youth'. Some will get a twilight into the past experiences and some will just wander lost in a valley of questions.
What I would like to see is a list of movies these viewers have seen in their childhood. To better understand where it is they're coming from.
Alot can be said by one's childhood theater and home entertainment experiences in context of the classic comparison or in this case disappointed viewing.
The movie in question has a certain flare to it. Take into account when it was made and it's target audience. It's not your typical loose yourself in a 90-120 minute movie and walk away. It had more than just action...look closer and if you can't find it you had a completely different expectation.
It hard to compare it to today's standards so do this: View it with no expectations and don't compare it to movies in it's genre today and if you can spare another viewing watch the special features and if you can bare it watch the director commentary.
After that you will better understand why this movie had a lasting impact to those that had seen in their youth.
[ 06. August 2009, 13:38: Message edited by: Fightertown ]
Posts: 230 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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there are some weird parts, and it jumps around, but I like that it doesn't have answers to every question and you have to think.
The director's commentary is pretty good and some deleted scenes on the DVD.
Vuckovich was also having marriage trouble on the deleted scenes, which we don't see in the film, which gives more insight to his ability to deal the problems.
Posts: 215 | From: Central TX | Registered: Aug 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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I'm not saying it as someone that has only seen it recently, but I'm saying it as someone that knows a thing or two about 80's movies, and I can tell you that while I did like the ending, and the premise was good, it just didn't have a great story to it. I mean I was only watching the Cinemax version, but I just felt it needed a little bit more. The car chase was cool, but the wimpy sidekick becoming "the man" at the end was nonsense.
WE are DEVO
Posts: 4228 | From: Home of the big landfill | Registered: Jul 2003 | Site Updates: 8
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quote:Originally posted by Devolution: Devolution here,
I'm not saying it as someone that has only seen it recently, but I'm saying it as someone that knows a thing or two about 80's movies, and I can tell you that while I did like the ending, and the premise was good, it just didn't have a great story to it. I mean I was only watching the Cinemax version, but I just felt it needed a little bit more. The car chase was cool, but the wimpy sidekick becoming "the man" at the end was nonsense.
WE are DEVO
I feel the same about Fast Times at ridgemont High.
loads of people rave about it, and I can see why. But the story is transparently weak.
Posts: 3646 | From: Shermer, IL - where else? | Registered: Mar 2001 | Site Updates: 37
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quote:loads of people rave about it, and I can see why. But the story is transparently weak.
Hardly a story really. Just a series of interwoven vignettes. Then again, the book was the same. In some ways that's what makes it good; school felt the same as the movie. No one solid thread, just a series of repetitive days with some highlight experiences throughout. Good cast though, and some good songs. I saw Fast Times late (well after all the Hughes movies) some time in the late 80's/early 90's. It still worked for me. It's got the right 'vibe'.
Posts: 3383 | From: England | Registered: May 2003 | Site Updates: 21
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Muffy Tepperman
Leopard-print Leotard Wearer.....
Member # 1551
posted
Just watched this for the first time today and i loved it!
For alot of the same reasons I loved Reckless.....artfully shot......awesome soundtrack!....Peterson was great so was Dafoe.....I get what you mean thinking the story wasn't there......but I didn't feel it needed a huge explaining only because it was so visually going and action packed the car chase was.....whoaaaaa! towards the end I put my hand to my mouth in shock twice!
Reminded me in style somewhat to Manhunter maybe only for William Peterson.....damn he was sexy then.
Posts: 2912 | Registered: Jun 2003 | Site Updates: 26
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To Live and Die in L.A. is an interesting movie. It wasn't very well-received by audiences or many movie critics when it came out. Although stylish, it was also fairly bleak, bordering on nihilism, in the Reagan-era of "Rah! Rah!" feel-good movies.
I loved it, however, and still consider it to be one of the better movies of that time.
On a sidebar, my parents had long-time family friends whose son ended up in the Secret Service, and he worked for the agent who wrote the original novel. I saw him not long after seeing the movie, and he looked like a Richard Chance clone...down vest, flannel shirt (with sleeves rolled up, of course!), jeans, boots, big watch. Made me wonder if T-Men across the country were raiding Pendleton Woolen Mills for their wardrobe needs. Posts: 32 | From: Monroeville Mall | Registered: Nov 2009 | Site Updates: 0
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I saw it on DVD for the first time several years ago. Not bad, but not great either.
Posts: 3385 | From: Sacramento, California, USA | Registered: Sep 2002 | Site Updates: 0
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I agree that it's a good, flawed, not great movie. It does have a whole lot going for it, including the super Wang Chung soundtrack and that wonderful car chase. And why didn't John Pankow have a bigger movie career? He's just so good here and in Monkey Shines.
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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Dark, gritty, Wang Chung pumped, chase thrilling gem of the '80s! To Live & Die in LA has my vote of confidence Devo
Posts: 67 | From: Dublin, Ireland | Registered: Aug 2010 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
I saw TLADILA for the first time about 2 or 3 years ago, then I watched it again when the Japanese HD-DVD version made the rounds on the internet.
Its one of the few 'bigger' movies of the 80's that I simply had never seen.....
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but unlike most, I am not a huge fan of car chases. So for me, the car chase that takes center stage for a chunk of this film was a huge yawn. The rest of the story was amusing enough, it made sense, but a 'counterfeiting story' in general doesn't exactly get the heart racing to begin with, so the subject matter itself is a little bland.
Whats cool about this movie is the time-capsule factor, and the performances. Good actors giving good, solid performances.
But I also agree...the ending is just silly. That guy with that attitude = epic failure Posts: 125 | Registered: Jan 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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